With the fourth
installment of the most successful toy-inspired film franchise about to be
released on the big screen, and in the case of IMAX, bigger screen, we thought
it was a chance to take a last look at the third in the Witwicky trilogy,
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011). The review at the time of its original
release can be found here.

While the welcomed
departure of Megan Fox allowed for the franchise to move forward, she is not
the only thing that was wrong with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009),
which while not as well received critically, still managed to outperform the
original live-action film, Transformers (2007), at the box-office. Some
connected to the production would blame the writer’s strike, which disrupted
the rewrite of the script, with the film’s shortcomings, but it was probably
more to do with having a set in cement release date, even if the film wasn't quite
ready for public consumption. With profitability attached to summer
blockbusters, there is no way a studio can afford any delays in getting the
product out the gates.

Dark of the Moon
starts with the premise that the Apollo moon landing was a government
conspiracy to explore the lunar crash site of an alien spacecraft. In this
case, Sentinel Prime’s (Leonard Nimoy) spaceship, shot down in the last days of
the war for Cybertron between the Autobots and the Decepticons. On board the ship are pillars which, used
together, can create a space bridge for teleporting weapons, troops and
supplies. NASA doesn’t know what’s found when the astronauts get to the site.

The moon landing was just a government conspiracy.

The conspiracy idea
never gets shaken as those connected with it, including Jerry "Deep"
Wang (Ken Jeong), a programmer who works at the same company Sam Witwicky (Shia
LaBeouf) lands a job in the mail room at. Wang is acted out in Jeong’s usual
over-the-top anything-for-a-cheap-laugh-style (better suited to the Hangover films), but he is not the first
over-the-top character Witwicky comes into contact with, nor is he the last.
Pretty much every human character is portrayed as a caricature, from Sam’s first
boss,Bruce Brazos (John Malkovich), to
his parents, Ron (Kevin Dunn) and Judy (Julie White), to old nemesis, now turned
ally, former agent, Seymour Simmons (John Turturro). Include in there Seymour’s personal assistant, Dutch (Alan Tudyk), and Charlotte Meaning (Frances
McDormand), the Director of National Intelligence, and you pretty much have all
the main “human” characters. All have done better work in other films, so this
is not a high point in their acting careers with the possible exception of
paychecks.

The only humans who
are in any way believable and likeable are the Army personnel, led by U.S. Army Lt.
Colonel William Lennox (Josh Duhamel), and retired U.S. Air Force Chief Master
Sergeant Robert Epps (Tyrese Gibson). Dylan Gould (Patrick Dempsey), who is working on Earth for the
Decepticons’ cause, is also, sadly, quite believable, but I wouldn’t say
likable. He represents all that we think is wrong with the rich and privileged
in that they will do anything for their own success and survival despite what
happens to the rest of us. Gould is the embodiment of the financial top 1% all
those protests were about a few years ago.

Replacing Fox as Sam’s love interest is Rosie
Huntington-Whiteley as Carly Spencer, who works for Gould managing his large
car collection. A model, Dark of the Moon marks Huntington-Whiteley's first
film acting gig and while she is good and good-looking, one wonders why her savvy and successful character would settle for Sam except for as a plot device.

In this film, Sam is portrayed by LaBeouf as
angry, whiny and feeling like he is owed something for past events. He either
seems to be screaming in anger or screaming in fear throughout most of the film
before finally stepping up to save Carly’s life. While he is not quite the
messenger in the previous films that Meaning makes him out to be, I’m not sure
he is deserving of the special treatment he thinks he is. Nor is he deserving of
his parents’ disappointment at not having landed a job on their time table,
while they drive around the country in their oversized RV.

Frankly, I’m happy to see the Witwickys in the
rearview mirror of this franchise as the films always seem to stop dead when
they are on screen, especially the parents. They are supposed to be comic
relief, but this film is crammed full of such characters that it makes the few
who are not stand out as approaching normal.

The big switch-a-roo in this film is that
Sentinel Prime, who is brought back to life by the well-meaning Optimus Prime
(Peter Cullen), is actually working with the Autobots' nemesis, Megatron
(Hugo Weaving), not to end the war as much as to ensure that Cybertron survives.
The film toys around with, but never actually resolves whether or not Sentinel
Prime would have turned the tables on Megatron and ruled as the leader of the
Decepticons.

All throughout his reign over the franchise,
director Michael Bay has been tweaking fan expectations. While the special effects have been really great throughout, it seems at times that
corporate interests and Transformers mythos have been at odds. As an example, the cars the Autobots
transform into have been open to the highest bidder. Bay's Transformers film have also added
characters to the universe as well as bathroom humor. Who can forget Bumblebee
urinating on Simmons in the first Transformers and I’d like to forget Jeong
pulling plans out of his underwear in the toilet stall in the men’s room in
this one. One can hope that closing the door on the Witwickys will lead to a
different and more uplifted approach to the humor and to the storytelling.

Come for the robots and stay for the action, Bay's strong suit.

I’m told that four years pass between the end
of this film and the opening of the fourth installment, which I will lettell me what happens rather than speculate. I
can’t believe I’m actually writing this, but I have to imagine Mark Wahlberg
will be a huge improvement over LaBeouf as lead actor. I think that says
something more about LaBeouf overstaying his welcome than it does about Wahlberg, as a lead actor, or myself as a viewer.While every die-hard Transformers fan and
their families has no doubt seen this film already, one would imagine they
will flock to see Age of Extinction. But here is hoping, as a more casual
observer and viewer, that they someday make one film that is just about the
robots. These are the more interesting and compelling characters. No one is
playing with a Witwicky action figure. They are what the people come to see and
why they keep coming back.